Re: paleonet Moral Values Doesn't Necessarily MeanAnti-Evolution

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Folks,

As I listened a bit to BBC (yes one of the Public TV stations carries it) Wednesday night, I thought their painting the election as a turn toward very conservativism did not reflect my impression of the states.

I find it sad in the post modern world that moral driven stances from Christian protestant values is seen as being wrong or irrational. Yes I like a leader who shares my Christian values and that may tend to make me vote for him/her (we haven't gotten to the her yet nationally). But for that very reason I also voted for Jimmy Carter, whose political stance was democratic of a more socialistic stance, but one who was also driven by core beliefs that I liked.

Yes, part of the folks who Bush appealed to were the religious right and some of them are radical. However most of us are not. One of the first defenders of Darwin in this country, Asa Gray, would today probably have been called an evangelical Christian. Many of the great Universities in the States were sponsored by protestant (puritans etc) and to this day many "evangelical" but not fringe Protestant groups still sponsor good academic scholarship. Bush is more in line with the middle of the evangelicals than the right fringe. Please don't stereotype all evangelicals with young earth [flood model] anticreationists. Most of my evangelical colleagues who are scientists (see the ASA) believe in some form of evolution.

The irony is that in terms of spending money [although it is not clear that Kerry would have spent less], Bush has not recently been that fiscally responsible.

James Mahaffy (mahaffy@dordt.edu) Phone: 712 722-6279
498 4th Ave NE
Biology Department FAX : 712 722-1198
Dordt College, Sioux Center IA 51250-1697

>>> breandan@campus.ie 11/4/2004 12:58:55 PM >>>

Dear Lisa (and Palaeonetters)

I think you're over-reacting. We are all aware of the creationist element in the United States, but I wouldn't dismiss all the "moral values" voters as creationist nutters. Being pro-life does not make you a creationist. (Many pro-life voters would not vote for a candidate who is not also pro-life, for example). As an independant (i.e. non-American) observer, it looks like Kerry's extreme liberal stance put off a lot of (conservative but by no means rabid creationist) voters who may otherwise have voted Democrat.
As to the question of what we should do about creationism, that's been a hot topic for a long time, and there's no easy anwer to be had. But in specific terms, the recent anti-evolution initiatives in the US have failed, and I don't think we should be any more worried now than four years ago.

Breandan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lisa Park" <lepark@uakron.edu>
To: <paleonet@nhm.ac.uk>
Subject: paleonet Moral Values Means Anti-Science
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 10:18:45 -0500

>
> Dear Paleonetters and all people interested in Science---
>
> On Tuesday, George Bush was re-elected President of the United States.
> Whether or not you supported him is inconsequential. What will have extreme
> consequences to those interested in paleontology and the study of evolution
> is WHY he got elected. Despite an unpopular war in Iraq and an
> underperforming economy, millions of people turned out at the polls to vote
> for Mr. Bush. The reason they cited was “moral values.” Most pundits
> define this as meaning anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage, but it runs a
> little deeper than that. It is also anti-science, and for us,
> anti-evolution. With 4 Supreme Court Justice nominations looming in the
> next 4 years, Mr. Bush could appoint very extreme right-wing justices who
> could effectively put prayer in school, the Ten Commandments in public
> places and Creationism in the classroom.
>
> The time is now for all of us to come together and realize what is
> happening. One THIRD of Americans are evangelical Christians. They
> interpret the Bible literally, which means that they do not believe Earth is
> 4.6 billion years old, but do believe that the Flood caused the Grand
> Canyon. What was once thought of as a “fringe” element in American society
> has become the majority and, as witnessed on Tuesday, they VOTE.
>
> The question is…..what are we going to do? To borrow from two recent
> campaign ads: there ARE wolves lurking in the forest…are we going to bury
> our heads in the sand?
>
> Sincerely,
> Lisa Park
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Dr. Lisa E. Park, Associate Professor
> Department of Geology
> Crouse Hall
> 252 Buchtel Commons
> University of Akron
> Akron, OH 44325-4101 USA
> 001-330-972-7633 (phone)
> 001-330-972-7611 (fax)
> lepark@uakron.edu
>
> Damnant quod non intelligunt
> (they condemn what they do not understand)
>
>

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